In the most common context at the moment, "Cloud" probably doesn't mean "the internet" though its not a protected term so anyone can call anything they like a cloud. A cloud provider, therefore, is someone who says "We're a cloud provider". I'm sure someone will come along and tell you it's all about technology and some such, but it isn't like there's a law that says you have to have so many resources of such a certain type to call yourself a cloud provider or an ISP or whatever. I know this sounds like I'm being facetious, but there is a serious point here: don't get too hung up on names.
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RobMNov 28 '10 at 11:31

So a "Cloud" can be anything? If I wanted to name my hosting service with "Cloud" in it, it would be okay?
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omnixNov 28 '10 at 13:11

You can name your hosting service "cloud's cloudy cloud" if you want. It's just a word, not a protected term, like calling yourself a medical doctor or a lawyer, for example. The most common use of the word "cloud" currently does have a commonly used meaning, so I'd suggest not using it unless you're offering a service that meets that definition (see wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing). I'm not saying that's the "one true definition" by the way (see earlier comment), just that it's one current definition.
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RobMNov 28 '10 at 14:02

"Cloud Provider" - if you say it enough in business meetings people start throwing money at you, because upper level management has been told that being a "cloud provider"=money. Its really just one of the business keywords that doesn't connote anything at all. In my view it typically means the consumer gets whatever service the 'provider' says they offer and then end user doesn't worry about how or why that service actually works (this is the 'cloud' part - very hazy can't really see what's going on or why. Cloud.) they just use it.
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Marm0tNov 28 '10 at 16:11

1 Answer
1

Although "cloud" is largely the buzzword du jour, and people are using it for anything they want to sell, it generally means one of three things:

Lightweight virtual hosting, where
you can deploy any number of
dedicated virtual servers yourself by interacting with an API or simply a web page,
and where you're generally billed
per hour of use. Amazon EC2 is the
prime example of this; Rackspace
provides another.

Lightweight application hosting,
where you write a program
specifically for a specialized
(generally proprietary) platform,
and the provider hosts and runs the
code. Again, you normally configure this
yourself -- no human at the provider company needs to attend to requests individually. Google App Engine and
Microsoft Windows Azure are the big
names here, but many Ruby-on-Rails
providers could be counted as well.

Software or infrastructure as a
service, provided over the Internet
and usually accessed through a web
browser. In this sense, Google Docs
or Photoshop Online might be
counted, or even an Internet-based
backup service. It could be anyone providing an app written on top of one of the above platforms, or it could simply be "on the internet!" This is where the term
is at its most buzzwordy and least actually meaningful.